Illuminated sign



July 15 1958 J. B. VIDACH 2,842,881

ILLUMINATEd SIGN Filed Fe'b. 27, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 n anon 0008:0000

n tnooco coo-one J; B. VIDACH ILLUMINATED SIGN July 15, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27, 1956 INVENTOR. BY Jfiiffi. VEQ ac'fi /425iorney;

United States Patent Ofiice 2,842,88l Patented July 15,. 1958ILLUMINATED SIGN John B. Vidach, Chicago, ill, Application February 27,1956', Serial No. shares 6 Claims. (Cl. 40-433 The present inventionrelates to illuminated signs, particularly those which, are energized byelectrical means,- either self co-ntained, external or both.

The improved illuminated sign comprisingthe present invention has been.designed'primarily. for use either as a street sign" or as a warni ng ordanger signal, suitable modifications being possible to adapt the signto the particular selected use. The sign is also capable of otheroutdoor uses, as for example as a railway signal or the like, or as anadvertising display.

-t is among the' principalobjects of this invention to provide anilluminated sign-having a novel form of housing orcasingwhichis'sodesigned as to" shed moisture under adverse weather conditions insuch; a' manner that neither the electrical wire or other connectionswithin or leading to the sign housing, nor the energizing battery whichmay be enclosed Within the housing; will{ be adversely affected by such;moisture; A: similar and related object is to provide such: a signhousing which relies upon the heat of energizatiom (if-"theilluminating: means within the housing fordefrosting or meltingany'i'cei accumulation that may collect on the sign before it has becomeilluminated or for preventing. such: iceuaccumulation after the signhas'become illuminatedl A further kindredobject is to provide a sign:housing of'thissort havingassociated therewith sign ind icia which isprotected fromtobliteration by moisture, either in the form of: ice: orwater so that the indicia will: at-iall timestbe' clearly legibleaandvisible.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sign honsingin which-thecharacters or'numbers forming the signindicia consist solely of rows ofclosely aligned perforations, the. perforations being of suifici'ently;small (2 meter that during inclement weather horizontal. wind gusts willnot carry; rain dropsori other moisture into the housing, yetwl1iohareof adequate size to display their message c-learl-yboth during daylighthours. when the sign is'not illuminated as well as during theilluminated night hours.

A further object of the. invention is to provide a sign housing. whichvis cc-mprised oil a cover. part and one or more door parts hingedlyconnected. to the cover part, the coverpart being rprovided withsuitable supporting m ans whereby the same maybe suspended or otherwisereported from a suitable standard such as. a street post, together with.releasable. interlocking means. between the cover and door parts so.that an endao f each door part may be suspended from the: cover part.and held therest in closed relation withno likelihood of accidentalopenng movement of the door parts.

Yet another .object I" the inventiom in one form thereof, is toprovideadirectibnalsttet sign designed for use at street intersections andhavingasign housing provided, with angularly disposed parts which may beemployed to designate the nanie s of the intersecting streets, together,with reinforcing means for the two angularly'disposedpartgwhereby theparts may be held against possible relative angular swinging movementsand in which the reinforcing means is comprised of the tubular wire orbus bar fittings through which. the electrical conductors for the signenergizing means extend.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an illuminated signassembly which is readily capable of attachment to'and removal from awide variety of street posts or standards, thus enablingthe sign to betransported to the factory, repair shop or the like for servicing ratherthan necessitating servicing in the field.

A still further object of the invention, in a modified form thereof, isto provide an illuminated danger signal device capable of receiving itsenergization from a portable source such as a battery or the like andhaving associated therewith a series of similar danger signal devices,the various devices being cap-able of selective placement and connectionto the portable source so that they may effectively be positioned at adanger area, as for example near an excavation or the like so as toenclose the area and provide a warning from all approaches thereto.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, not at this timeenumerated, will become more readily apparent as the nature of theinvention is better understood.

In the accompanying two sheets of drawings forming a part of thisspecification, several embodiments of the invention have been shown.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a directional street sign constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention and showing thesame operatively mounted on a street post;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the sign shown in Fig. 1;I

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary exploded perspective view of areleasable locking means employed. in connection with the presentinvention;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a danger signal device constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the vertical planeindicated by the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the structure shown in Fig.5 and showing the sign housing in its open condition, with portionsthereof removed to show the arrangement of lights therein; and

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view, somewhat schematic in itsrepresentation, showing a series of interconnected danger signal devicescapable of selective placement within or about a danger area.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and in par ticular to Figs. 1to 4 inclusive wherein the invention is shown as being oper-ativelyembodied in a directional twoway street sign, the sign involves in itsgeneral organization a generally L-shaped sign casing 10 having casingportions 12 and 14 which may be disposed at right angles to each otherto accommodate a street intersection wherein the two streets aresimilarly related. It will be understood, of course, that where thestreets intersect at an angle other than a right angle, the angularitybetween the portions 12 and 14 will be varied accordingly.

The sign casing 10 includes a main body part 16 which is common toportions 12 and 14 and which, because it incorporates the entire coverportion of the casing, will hereinafter be referred to as the coverpart. The body part 16 is essentially L-shaped, and at the intersectionof the portions 12 and 14 extends downwardly on both sides and thenacross to form two legs 20 and 22 of hollow construction and preferablyrectangular cross section. Thus, each leg has a bottom wall 24, insideand outside side walls 26 and 28 respectively, and a top wall for-med bybody 16, the latter being preferably arcuate in cross sectionalconfiguration for reasons that will be made clear presently.

Body 16 extends outwardly from the divergent ends of each hollow legportion 20 and 22 in the form of a hood, each extension being providedwith depending side walls 36 and an end wall 38 which constitute anapron depending from the three sides of the cover extensions. This apronis adapted to telescope over the upper end of a box-like door structurethe nature and function of which will be made clear presently.

Still referring to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the box-like door structure40 has a bottom wall 42, upstanding side walls 44 and 4-6 and anupstanding end wall 48. The other end of the structure 40 is open. Theopen end of each door structure 40 extends into the free or open end ofone of the hollow legs 20 or 22, as the case may be, in such manner thatthe free edge of the bottom wall 42 overlaps the bottom wall 24 of theelbow portion 18. A conventional leaf hinge has one leaf thereof securedas by rivets to the bottom wall 42 and its other leaf similarly securedto the wall 24 so that the door structure or closure member 40 ispivoted to the body part 16 for swinging movement from the closedposition shown in Fig. 3 through the intermediate position shown indotted lines in this view to a fully open position wherein the interiorof the casing portion 12 or 14, as the case may be, is exposed andcompletely accessible. It may be noted that the hinge part on theclosure member is vertically offset from the hinge part on the hollowmember so that bottom wall 42 may overlap the bottom wall of the hollowmember in the closed position of the closure member.

The opposed inner faces of the casing portions 12 and 14, as well as theremote outer faces thereof, constitute the sign fields on which thereadable indicia are displayed. The characters, i. e., the letters ornumerals, which constitute the sign proper are produced by rows ofperforations 51 which are closely aligned and which assume the form ofthe desired reading material such as the designations of theintersecting streets. The characters thus produced are readily visiblein daylight and it will be understood that these characters are likewisevisible at night when the interior of the sign housing is illuminated byelectrical. means subsequently to be described. The perforations 51 areof sufficiently small diameter that cross currents or drafts of air willnot readily pass through the sign casing and they are preferably smallenough that the average rain drop cannot enter the same in rolling downthe sides of the sign.

It will be observed that, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, the perforations51 constituting the indicia of the sign proper may be placed on the sidewalls 44 and 46 of the closure members 4t? and such portions of thematter as cannot conveniently be wholly contained on these side wallsmay be placed on the inner and outer side walls 26 and 28 of the hollowleg portions '20 and 22, respectively, of the body part 16.

The sign casing is adapted to be StlppOIiBd in a generally horizontalposition as shown in Fig. 1 from a conventional street post or a streetlamp having a vertical supporting standard such as the standard shown at52 in broken lines in Fig. 1. Accordingly, the apex of the body part 16is provided with a pair of contiguous laterally extending webs 54 whichmay be secured together by a soldering or welding operation and whichterminate in laterally turned curved portions 56 having clamping flanges58 formed thereon. A strap 64 having clamping flanges 62 together withsuitable clamping nut and bolt assemblies 66 completes the attachmentmeans whereby the body part 16 is supported from the standard 52.

-In order to maintain the closure members 46 in their closed nestedpositions within the extensions of the body part 16, cooperatingreleasable locking means are provided on the end walls 38 and 48. Thislocking means is in the form of a generally triangular loop of springwire '70 (Fig. 4) twisted at its apex as at 72 around a stud 74 carriedon the wall 38 and having diverging sides 76 the free ends of which areturned inwardly as at '78 and extend in overlapping relation so thatthey may be passed through an opening provided in an eyelet mem' ber 82in the form of an angle piece welded or otherwise secured to the Wall43. By spreading the arms 76 apart until the ends of the overlappingportions 78 become separated, these portions may be aligned with theeyelet opening 80 and passed therethrough when spring tension on thearms 76 is released. The overlapping relation of the portions 78 insuresengagement between the wire and eyelet member 82 under conditions ofvibration due to the passage of heavy vehicles near by, or vagaries ofthe elements, or tampering by unauthorized persons.

In order to render the sign indicia on the various sign fields visibleat night, a conventional electric lamp socket 84 of the double endedvariety is suitably suspended substantially centrally from the curvedtop wall portions of each casing portion 12 and 14. These socket membershave mounted therein in axial alignment elongated lamps 86 which may beconnected in electrical parallel within the sockets themselves as wellas through suitable conductors 88 which extend through tubular fittingsleading to a source of current (not shown) which may be the same sourceemployed for illuminating the street lamp associated with the standard52. The conductor fittings just referred to preferably include twoL-shaped tubular members 90, the downwardly turned ends 92 of whichextend into the lamp housing 10 and serve to support the respectivesocket members 84. These members are connected at adjacent ends by aT-fitting 94 which constitutes a lead-in for the conductors 88. Thetubular fittings thus form a rigid assembly which constitutes areinforcing brace or strut by means of which the two diverging housingsections 12 and 14 are maintained against relative swinging movement.

From the above description it will be apparent that due to the curvednature of the top wall surfaces of the lamp housing, there will be atendency for moisture in the form of rain or the like which may fall onthis surface to flow downwardly in opposite directions across the topwall surfaces and downwardly across the apron or side walls of the coverextensions. The cover extensions will serve as a hood so that themoisture will drip from the lower edge of the apron, thus maintainingmuch of the moisture out of contact with the side walls and end wall ofthe closure members 40. In this manner protection is aiforded thevarious sign fields against accumulation of moisture. Additionally,during sub-freezing weather, any ice formation which may haveaccumulated on the sign housing, particularly the top wall portionsthereof, during daylight hours when the sign is not illuminated, willbecome transformed into water when the sign is illuminated because ofthe heat given off by the lamps 86 and the moisture thus formed will beshed from the apron portion of the cover extensions in the mannerpreviously described.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the principlesset forth in connection With the street sign of Figs. 1 to 4 inclusivehave been applied to a danger or warning signal device including aportable battery cabinet and a sign assembly 102. The cabinet 100 is ofmore or less conventional design and no claim is made herein to anynovelty associated with the same, it being deemed suflicient to statethat the same may be in the form of a rectangular metal box-likestructure having a hinged front door and adapted to contain a suitablesource of current supply such as a series of dry cell batteries, or astorage battery, such as is illustrated at 104. Conductors and 106,having associated therewith suitable clamping devices 108 for attachmentto the ass-asst salt battery terminals 110 and 112, respectively, leadto an outlet socket 114, a suitable manual switch 116 being interposedin one of the conductors. Additional outlet sockets may be provided forthe cabinet structure 100, two such sockets 117 and 118 being shown asdisposed on the side walls thereof for purposes that will appearsubsequently.

The sign housing assembly 102 is similar in its design and constructionto one of the casing portions 12 or 14 of the sign housing of Fig. l,and includes a body portion 122 having a hollow part 124 provided withan extension 126 on one side and with a transverse end wall 130 closingthe other side. The body portion 122 has associated therewith a hingedclosure member132 similar to the closure members previously describedand similarly hingedly secured to the bottom wall of the body part forswinging movements into and out of telescopic relation with respect tothe cover extension 126. Indicia 133 are perforated in the door sides asin the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusivej Whereas inthe form of the invention shown in Fig. 1, the body part 16 is adaptedto be fixed to a stationary support such as the standard 52 and the doorstructure 40 is movable relative thereto, in the form shown in Figs. 5to 8 the closure member 132 is adapted to be fixedly supported from thebattery cabinet 100 while the hollow body part 124 is movable. Towardthis end, a conventional male plug connector is secured to and projectsdownwardly from the bottom wall of the closure member 132 centrallythereof and is designed for detachable connection to the femalereceptacie lift-1 for the dual purpose of supporting the sign assembly102 in a slightly elevated position above the cabinet 1% as well as forestablishing electrical connection between the illuminating means withinthe sign assembly 102 as will be described presently.

The connector 134 communicates with a lamp socket member 135 of thedouble-ended type and which may be identical with the lamp socket member84 in the form of the invention previously described. The socket member135 is positioned in close proximity to the bottom wall of the closuremember 132 and is adapted to receive therein a pair of lamps 137 havingelectrical characteristics commensurate with the voltage delivered bythe battery 104.

The extension 126 may carry interiorly and centrally thereof a doubleended lamp socket assembly 138 adapted to receive therein a pair oflamps 140 which may be of the 110 volt variety or which otherwise haveelectrical characteristics which will'adapt them for energization by acommercial source of current. The socket assembly 138 may haveassociated therewith the usual female socket part designed forconnection to a male plug 144 carried at the end of a conductor 146 bymeans of which current may be supplied to the lamps 140. The electricalsystem associated with the lamps 140 may be entirely independent of theportable electrical system which supplies low voltage current to thelamps 137, and either system may selectively be employed forilluminating the sign. 1

In Fig. 8 a series of the sign assemblies 102 is shown as beingoperatively connected in electrical parallel to the battery source of asingle cabinet 1%. In addition to the assembly 102 which is mounteddirectly on the cabinet 1%, two additional assemblies of identicalconstruction are shown as being mounted on suitable standards 150, eachof which comprises a base portion 152 and an upstanding post 154, thelatter carrying at its upper end a female socket 156 for reception ofthe male plug 134 associated with its respective assembly 132. Thevarious socket members 117, 118 and 156 may be interconnected bysuitable cables 158 in the usual manner of connection of such elementsso that all of the low voltage lamps associated with the sign assemblies162 ly when illuminated as at night. 7

It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrativeof preferred embodiments of the invention and that the scope of theinvention therefore is not to be limited thereto but is to be determinedby the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a sign casing including a cover part and a closurepart, said cover part including a hollow body portion having a bottomwall, upstanding side walls and a crowned top wall, said top wall andthe upper regions of said side walls being extended longitudinally toprovide a hood portion the top wall of which is a continuation of saidtop wall of the body portion and depending side flanges which arecontinuations of said side walls of the body portion, an end wall at theouter end of said hood portion, said closure part comprising a box-likestructure having a bottom wall, upstanding side walls and an upstandingend wall, an open top and an open end opposite said upstanding end wall,and a leaf hinge having one leaf thereof secured to the edge region ofthe bottom wall of said hollow body portion and having its other leafsecured to the bottom wall of the closure part a slight distanceinwardly from the free edge thereof whereby when said bottom walls arein parallel relation the two walls overlap each other a slight distance,said closure part being movable from a closed position wherein the upperedge regions of the end and side walls thereof are telescopicallyreceived between said depending side flanges and within said hoodportion to an open position wherein the interior of said hollow bodyportion is exposed, and cooperating means on said cover and closureparts for releasably locking said closure part in its closed position.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein the side walls of saidcover part are longitudinally coextensive with the bottom wall thereofwhereby when said closure part is in its closed position the open end ofthe latter is slightly telescoped into the hollow body portion of thecover part.

3. In combination, a sign casing comprising a cover part and a closurepart, said cover part including a hood portion having a crowned top walland depending side flanges, said closure part being in the form of aboxlike structure having an open upper end, means hingedly connectingsaid cover part and closure part for relative swinging movement wherebythe closure part may be moved between a closed position wherein it istelescopically received within the side flanges of said cover part andan open position wherein said open upper end is withdrawn from suchtelescopic reception, sign indicia on said closure part immediatelybelow said hood portion of the cover part, said indicia being in theform of a plurality of rows of closely spaced perforations in at leastone wall of the closure part, said rows in combination constituting theindicia pattern, and means for illuminating the interior of said closurepart at will.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3 wherein said illuminating meanscomprises a fixture including an electric lamp fixedly secured withinthe closure part and movable therewith in unison.

5. In combination, a sign casing comprising a cover part and a closurepart, said cover part including a hood portion having a crowned top walland depending side 7 flanges and at least one end flange, said closurepart being in the form of a box-like structure having a bottom wall,upstanding side walls and at least one end wall, and an open upper endmeans hingedly connecting said cover part and closure part for relativeswinging movement whereby said closure part may be moved relative to thecover part between a closed position wherein its open end istelescopically received within the flanges of said cover part and anopen position wherein said open end is withdrawn from such telescopicreception, sign indicia on said side walls of said closure partimmediately beneath the side flanges of the hood portion, said indiciabeing in the form of a plurality of rows of closely spaced perforationsextending through the side walls of the closure part, said rows ofperforations, in combination, constituting the indicia pattern, andmeans for illuminating the interior of said sign casing.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein said illuminating meanscomprises a fixture including an electric lamp fixedly secured withinthe closure part for movement bodily in unison therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS979,526 Martin Dec. 27, 1910 1,381,038 Nalshe June 7, 1921 2,029,221Burgess et al. Jan. 28, 1936 2,076,081 Gottlieb Apr. 6, 1937 2,612,548Swanson Sept. 30, 1952 2,646,636 Gandee July 28, 1953

